: a meson that is a combination of up and down quarks and antiquarks, that may be positive, negative, or neutral, and that has a mass about 270 times that of the electron

Examples of pion in a Sentence

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As per Tanja Horn, PhD, a professor at The Catholic University of America, the EIC will allow scientists to study pion and kaon structures and pursue high-precision studies of proton spin. — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 21 Aug. 2026 Physicists had seen faint hints that something strange was going on with the pion rate. — Matt Von Hippel, Quanta Magazine, 29 July 2026 Above some critical energy threshold, interactions between those photons and a cosmic ray will be energetic enough that additional particles, like pions, will spontaneously be created. — Big Think, 30 Jan. 2026 They are created when protons and neutrons collide, which generates particles known as pions that then decay into muons. — IEEE Spectrum, 3 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for pion

Word History

Etymology

contraction of pi-meson

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pion was in 1950

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Cite this Entry

“Pion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pion. Accessed 30 Sep. 2026.

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